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Famous Grub Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Grub poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous grub poems. These examples illustrate what a famous grub poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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by Burns, Robert
...by luckless Hymen worn,
And those, alas! not Amalthea’s horn:
No nerves olfact’ry, true to Mammon’s foot,
Or grunting, grub sagacious, evil’s root:
The silly sheep that wanders wild astray,
Is not more friendless, is not more a prey;
Vampyre-booksellers drain him to the heart,
And viper-critics cureless venom dart.
 Critics! appll’d I venture on the name,
Those cut-throat bandits in the paths of fame,
Bloody dissectors, worse than ten Monroes,
He hacks to teach, they man...Read more of this...



by Service, Robert William
...'m not;
Yet gaily I contrive
 To till my plot.
The world its way can go,
 I little heed,
So long as I can grow
 The grub I need.

For though long overdue,
 The years to me,
Have taught a lesson true,
 --Humility.
Such better men than I
 I've seen pass on;
Their pay-off when they die;
 --Oblivion.

And so I mock at fame,
 With books unread;
No monument I claim
 When I am dead;
Contented as I see
 My cottage thatch
That my last goal should be
 --A cabbage patch....Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...mind is wafted far away
To wildernesses.

As I sit in some raucous pub,
Taboo to women,
And treat myself to greasy grub
I feel quite human.
Yet there I dream, despite the din,
Of God's green spaces,
And sweetly dwell the peace within
Of sylvan graces.

And so I wear my daily mask
Of pleasant seeming,
And nobody takes me to task
For distant dreaming;
A happy hypocrite am I
Of ambiance inner,
Who smiling make the same reply
To saint and sinner....Read more of this...

by Pope, Alexander
...imes worse when they repent.

One dedicates in high heroic prose,
And ridicules beyond a hundred foes;
One from all Grub Street will my fame defend,
And, more abusive, calls himself my friend.
This prints my Letters, that expects a bribe,
And others roar aloud, "Subscribe, subscribe."

There are, who to my person pay their court:
I cough like Horace, and, though lean, am short,
Ammon's great son one shoulder had too high,
Such Ovid's nose, and "Sir! you have an ey...Read more of this...

by Raine, Craig
...a pillory, features
pelted with food.

So many expeditions
to learn the history
of this little world:

I watch him grub
in the vegetable patch
and ponder the potato

in its natural state
for the very first time,
or found a settlement

of leaves and sticks,
cleverly protected
by a circle of stones.

But where on earth
did he manage to find
that cigarette end?

Rain and wind.
The day disintegrates.
I observe the lengthy

inquisition of a worm
then go indoors to...Read more of this...



by Smart, Christopher
...of Portugal -- God send good Angels to the allies of England! 

Let Hobab rejoice with Necydalus, who is the Greek of a Grub. 

Let Zurishaddai with the Polish Cock rejoice -- The Lord restore peace to Europe. 

Let Zuar rejoice with the Guinea Hen -- The Lord add to his mercies in the WEST! 

Let Chesed rejoice with Strepsiceros, whose weapons are the ornaments of his peace. 

Let Hagar rejoice with Gnesion, who is the right sort of eagle, and towers the highest....Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...Skipper Silas Geer.

Now though Cap geer had ne'er a fear the devil he could bilk,
He owned a gastric ulcer and his grub was mostly milk.
He also owned a Jersey cow to furnish him the same,
So soft and sleek and mild and meek, and Kathleen was her name.
And so his source of nourishment he got to love her so
That everywhere the captain went the cow would also go;
And though his sleeping quarters were ridiculously small,
He roped a section of them off to make Kathle...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...en in a shroud you rot beneath the weeds.
I'll carry on when carrion you lie beneath the yew;
With claw and beak my grub I'll seek when grubs are seeking you."

"Foul fowl! said I, "don't prophesy, I'll jolly well contrive
That when I rot in bone-yard lot you cease to be alive."
So I bespoke that barber bloke: "Joe, here's a five pound note.
It's crisp and new, and yours if you will slice that parrot's throat."
"In part," says he, "I must agree, for poor I...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...e you? you mean devil! And what are you secretly guilty of, all your life? 
Will you turn aside all your life? Will you grub and chatter all your life?)

(And who are you—blabbing by rote, years, pages, languages, reminiscences, 
Unwitting to-day that you do not know how to speak a single word?) 

Let others finish specimens—I never finish specimens; 
I shower them by exhaustless laws, as Nature does, fresh and modern continually. 

I give nothing as duties;
What others g...Read more of this...

by Brautigan, Richard
...

salmon croquettes, frappes, Christian Brothers port, orange

rye bread, canteloupes, Popeyes, salads, cheese--booze,

grub and Popeyes.

 Popeyes?

 We read books like The Thief's Journal, Set This House

on Fire The Naked Lunch, Krafft-Ebing. We read Krafft-

Ebing aloud all the time as if he were Kraft dinner.

 "The mayor of a small town in Eastern Portugal was seen

one morning pushing a wheelbarrow full of sex organs into

the city hall. He was of taint...Read more of this...

by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...a first-class chance, if you lose the fight, of talking your man to death. 
I'll tell the cook you're to have your grub, and see that you eat your fill, 
And come to the scratch all fit and well to leather this Saltbush Bill." 

'Twas Saltbush Bill, and his travelling sheep were wending their weary way 
On the Main Stock Route, through the Hard Times Run, on their six-mile stage a day; 
And he strayed a mile from the Main Stock Route, and started to feed along, 
And ...Read more of this...

by Pound, Ezra
...country? 
Here we are because we have the Ken-nin for our foemen, 
We have no comfort because of these Mongols. 
We grub the soft fern-shoots, 
When anyone says "Return," the others are full of sorrow. 
Sorrowful minds, sorrow is strong, we are hungry and thirsty. 
Our defence is not yet made sure, no one can let his friend return. 
We grub the old fern-stalks. 
We say: Will we be let to go back in October? 
There is no ease in royal affairs, we have no co...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...took down from the shelf
The swell black box with the silver plate he'd picked out for hisself;
And I packed it full of grub and "hooch", and I slung it on the sleigh;
Then I harnessed up my team of dogs and was off at dawn of day.

You know what it's like in the Yukon wild when it's sixty-nine below;
When the ice-worms wriggle their purple heads through the crust of the pale blue snow;
When the pine-trees crack like little guns in the silence of the wood,
And the icicles...Read more of this...

by Chesterton, G K
...their views profound, 
Or their conclusions well assured; 
The simple life I can't afford, 
Besides, I do not like the grub-- 
I want a mash and sausage, `scored'-- 
Will someone take me to a pub? 

I know where Men can still be found, 
Anger and clamorous accord, 
And virtues growing from the ground, 
And fellowship of beer and board, 
And song, that is a sturdy cord, 
And hope, that is a hardy shrub, 
And goodness, that is God's last word-- 
Will someone take me to a pub? ...Read more of this...

by Stevens, Wallace
...
453 Less prickly and much more condign than that 
454 He once thought necessary. Like Candide, 
455 Yeoman and grub, but with a fig in sight, 
456 And cream for the fig and silver for the cream, 
457 A blonde to tip the silver and to taste 
458 The rapey gouts. Good star, how that to be 
459 Annealed them in their cabin ribaldries! 
460 Yet the quotidian saps philosophers 
461 And men like Crispin like them in intent, 
462 If not in will, to track the knav...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...

And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;
And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;
The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;
And I'd often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May".
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...rful as you please,
Beside our little friendly fire on coffee, bread and cheese.
We lived upon the ragged edge, and grub was never sure,
But oh, these were the happy days, the days when we were poor.

III

Alas! old man, we're wealthy now, it's sad beyond a doubt;
We cannot dodge prosperity, success has found us out.
Your eye is very dull and drear, my brow is creased with care,
We realize how hard it is to be a millionaire.
The burden's heavy on our backs -- ...Read more of this...

by Kipling, Rudyard
...at boats I've handled -- rotten and leaky and old --
Ran 'em, or -- opened the bilge-cock, precisely as I was told.
Grub that 'ud bind you crazy, and crews that 'ud turn you grey,
And a big fat lump of insurance to cover the risk on the way.
The others they dursn't do it; they said they valued their life
(They've served me since as skippers). I went, and I took my wife.
Over the world I drove 'em, married at twenty-three,
And your mother saving the money and m...Read more of this...

by Field, Eugene
...ch trouble.
"Peter!" his mother would call, "the cream is a'ready for churning!"
"Peter!" his father would cry, "go grub at the weeds in the garden!"
So it was "Peter!" all day--calling, reminding, and chiding--
Peter neglected his work; therefore that nagging at Peter!

Peter got hold of some books--how, I'm unable to tell you;
Some have suspected the witch--this is no place for suspicions!
It is sufficient to stick close to the thread of the legend.
Nor is it stated...Read more of this...

by Swift, Jonathan
...he nation,
No worthy friend, no poor relation?
So ready to do strangers good,
Forgetting his own flesh and blood!"

Now Grub Street wits are all employed;
With elegies the town is cloyed:
Some paragraph in ev'ry paper,
To curse the Dean, or bless the Drapier.

The doctors, tender of their fame,
Wisely on me lay all the blame:
"We must confess his case was nice;
But he would never take advice.
Had he been ruled, for aught appears,
He might have lived these twenty years...Read more of this...

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things